Federal Institute Baiano uses drone Nauru to develop “Digital Atlas”

Federal Institute Baiano uses drone Nauru to develop “Digital Atlas”

A mapping job that would take three and a half years was reduced to just 20 days. The reason for this optimization has a name: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), or simply drone, nickname that has fallen in the taste of the enthusiasts of the new technology.

The Baiano Federal Institute (IF Baiano) is using the equipment in a pioneering project: the elaboration of a “Digital Atlas” that will have three main objectives: in its first phase, the Nauru VANT will do the cartographic survey of the 14 campuses scattered throughout Bahia (with areas varying from 50 to 1,000 hectares) in order to provide information related to infrastructure, topography, permanent preservation areas, legal reserve areas, among other data. After completing this stage, the data collected will guide all the expansion planning of the units, which are in full growth phase. Finally, the Atlas will be made available on the Internet so that public and government (such as the Ministry of Education – MEC) and other stakeholders can consult information related to the physical infrastructure and human aspects of the Institute, such as courses offered, number of students and faculty.

“We want to mark the story, making the new technologies pass into the hands of the students and be converted for the use of the population. We did a study and we came to the conclusion that the survey of the cartographic data, with the aid of GPS and other similar tools, would take at least three and a half years. With the VANT we estimate to reduce this step to 20 days. Rather than optimizing the work, we are turning the drone into a tool for research and extension”, says the project’s founder, Vandemberg Salvador’s Research, Graduate and Innovation Pro-Rector.

The participation of students is also considered by the dean as an important step in the elaboration of the Atlas. He explains that each stage of the project will involve students from related disciplines. For example, most of the APPs are partially degraded and, rather than identifying them, the Institute will also take care of the recovery of these areas, with the help of the students of the courses in the environmental area. “In the same way, the students of the surveying courses will be involved in the mapping, the zootechnics in the actions related to the agricultural areas”, emphasizes Vandemberg.